Chapter 18: The Right Attitude

Both teams fought really hard to make sure they came out on top, but in the end, only Manchester City got the fruit of their labor.

When Gregory saw that Arsenal were starting to get way more aggressive than they were in the first half, he gave his team the signal to make defense their priority.

Their offensiveness lessened as they tried to keep Arsenal away from their goalpost.

The last few minutes of the game was pretty tough for them with Zlensky and Davidson going crazy down the wings.

Their crosses were crazy and disorienting but luckily for the team, Mathys never managed to get a good header on the good ones and the ones he managed to get to were either sent over the bar or saved by Moreno.

Arder Guller remained a threat to them throughout the rest of the game, his passes were line breaking and the only shot he got in the game almost ended up being their equalizer.

He fired the shot from about twenty-five yards out aiming toward the top right-hand corner of the goalpost.

Moreno didn't expect that so he was glued to the spot as the ball hit the crossbar before flying over for a goal kick.

That shot had everyone hanging off their seats, and after it hit the crossbar, the home fans let out a sigh of relief while the away fans wailed in disappointment and frustration.

Manchester City really didn't do much in the second half but they held on tight to that lead and ended up making it out of the match victorious.

"There's the final whistle, it's another win for Manchester City here at the Etihad Stadium, just three more points to overtake Aston Villa who lost three goals to two against Wolves earlier today. They're keeping their heads up in this title race." Tony articulated.

"Arsenal fought pretty hard, they sort of overpowered City in this second half, but they just weren't clinical enough in front of the goalpost to run away with a point at least. If Manchester United succeeds in beating Brentford tomorrow then they will have to drop to fifth place, their fight for a Champions League spot continues." Mike expressed.

Merino was announced as the man of the match at the end of the game which was well deserved, he was no doubt Manchester City's best player on the pitch today, and the only person who managed to cook something up on his own in the second half.

Of course, Arsenal's defense didn't let him finish the main meal.

The voices of the home fans were going up now as some of the players raised their hands to applaud them.

While they were doing that, Peterson made his way to the pitch to find out that Axel wasn't there.

His shirt was no longer on his body but he was holding an Arsenal shirt which suggested that he swapped shirts with an Arsenal player.

"If you're looking for Axel, he already went down the tunnel," Novich said before pointing toward the tunnel.

"Oh." The winger muttered before slowly turning his gaze to the area.

"I wanted to help him walk but he said he could manage on his own."

"I see, then his injury isn't that serious." Peterson smiled before proceeding to sit down beside his teammate.

"Yeah," Novich responded with a nod. "But I still think the coach would like to keep him away from the next match, I know because that's what I would do and that's the best thing to do."

"Yes, but I don't think he'll be happy to hear that."

_______ ______

Axel went down earlier than any of his teammates and was still sitting alone in the locker room even after getting there about seven minutes ago.

However, that didn't bother him because he was busy going through his phone.

He was on Sofascore once again to check the ratings of all the players who were on the pitch today.

He only got a six-point eight rating but that was only because he had to leave so early in the second half.

However, he wasn't the lowest-rated player on the pitch, that was an Arsenal central midfielder, Charles Bed who barely got a five-point nine rating.

The highest-rated player on the pitch was of course Merino with a seven-point nine rating but following him close was Arder with a seven-point six.

"Another victory in the bag." He muttered under his breath before exiting from the app.

He was about to keep himself busy with something else when he started hearing footsteps getting closer to the locker room.

He thought it was just one of the staff until Peterson suddenly popped in front of the entrance.

"Oh, hey, Peter." He uttered before slowly turning his gaze back to his phone.

"Hey, kid." The Winger responded before he moved closer to sit beside him.

"I see you swapped shirts with somebody."

"No, this is for you." He revealed before throwing the shirt on him.

"Huh?" The youngster muttered with a confused expression on his face.

After that, he picked the shirt up to see that it had the number ten on its back with the name 'Davidson' written above it.

"You told me that you wanted his shirt, remember?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to swap my shirt with his." He sounded a bit hesitant as he slowly folded the shirt in his hand.

"Hey, don't worry about it." The winger remarked before placing his hand on his shoulder. "I told him you were the one who wanted it and he told me he would love to have your shirt the next time we face each other." He disclosed.

"Seriously?" His eyes suddenly brightened up as those words left his lips.

"Mhm."

"That's great, but we won't be facing each other anytime soon unless we survive long enough to clash in the F.A Cup."

"Yes, anyway, how's your knee doing?" Peterson inquired.

"My knee?" He replied before slowly moving his right leg back and forth. "The pain has reduced a bit after leaving some ice on it, I was afraid it was going to turn into something serious but with the duration before our next match being three days, I'm certain I'm going to make a full recovery and be part of the game.

"I'm just going to cut down on my exercise and rest a bit more and since my sister is still home, I won't have to go to the grocery store to get anything. I also will not be able to make it for training since….."

He just kept going on about how he thought things were going to be for him now while Peterson just watched him with a bright smile on his face.

'It would be unfair for you to have a poor career with this attitude.'